Twas the Night Before Christmas
by Raberba girl
Summary: AU where the Gundam boys are little kids, and all brothers. On Christmas Eve, little Duo decides to wait up for Santa, and he's determined to drag the other four along for the ride.


'Twas the Night Before Christmas: A G-boy Christmas Story

A Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl

Author's Note: This is an alternate universe where the Gundam pilots are little kids, and all brothers.

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"Mommy!" Quatre wailed, "Duo's being mean to Muffie again!"

Mrs. Ishida sighed and pulled Quatre and the cat he was clutching into her lap. "Duo Ishida, you come here right now," she said sternly.

Scowling, the little boy slouched out from his room. "Aw, I wasn't doin' nothin'. I only pulled on her tail a little. Quatre's such a baby." Quatre stuck his tongue out at him, and Duo immediately returned the gesture.

"Mom, make those two to shut up! I'm working!" Heero's voice yelled from the room he shared with Duo.

"Heero! Don't talk that way about your brothers!" Mrs. Ishida called sternly.

"Hn," was the reply, and then a sulky, "Sorry."

"Now, Duo honey, you apologize to Quatre right now."

"No!" Quatre cried. "Make him 'pol'gize to Muffie! And kiss her tail!"

"What?!" Duo sputtered, but then he saw the look on his mother's face. "Aww... 'M sorry, Muffie, you old fuzzball."

"Mommy!" Quatre shrieked indignantly.

Mrs. Ishida sighed. "I'm sorry, Quatre love, but that's probably the best we'll get out of him. Now, run along, I've got to finish the pies for tomorrow."

She set Quatre down and went back to the kitchen. As soon as her back was turned, Duo started making faces at Quatre, who tried to sic the cat on him (it didn't work). Quatre then ran to find his toy sickles so he could retaliate in earnest. Duo, seizing the opportunity to get his toy scythe, slammed into his room, where he and Heero promptly started yelling at each other, as always.

Just then, a car drove up outside and a familiar jingle of keys was heard at the door.

"Daddy's home!" Duo yelled. All the boys stopped what they were doing and tumbled into the front hallway to pounce on their father. Mr. Ishida expertly managed to hang up his coat, kiss his wife, and give each boy a hug while listening to the clamor at the same time.

"Dad, Duo messed up the printer again and now it's _severely_ off alignment."

"Daddy, Quatre and Mom made me say sorry to a _cat!"_

"Dad, I need you to help me with that project Ms. Taft gave us for Christmas break."

"Daaaddyyy, Duo was aboosing Muffie again!"

"Dad, can you help me put my Gundam model kit together?"

Mr. Ishida scooped up Quatre and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, since he was the only one who would still let him do that. "Yes, Heero, I'll fix the printer in a minute; Duo, I feel for you, but sometimes a man's gotta do what he's gotta do; Trowa and Wufei, I'll help both of you later; and Quatre-chan, it's _abusing,_ not 'aboosing,' and I'm sure Muffie's just fine."

He set Quatre down to give Mrs. Ishida another long kiss, murmuring as he did so, "Boys giving you trouble again?"

"As always," she mumbled back, before Duo immediately shrieked,

"EWWWWWWW! Mommy and Daddy are KISSING!" Quatre was giggling, Trowa blushed and looked away, and Heero and Wufei stormed off in disgust.

"Oh, does my widdle baby Duo want some love, too?" Mrs. Ishida cooed mischievously. She caught hold of him before he could escape and showered him with kisses, as he giggled madly through his yells of protest.

"Mommy, leggo! I am NOT a baby! Help me, Heero!"

"Not a chance, after that stunt you pulled with the printer!" Heero yelled back.

"Daddy, Muffie wants some love, too!" Quatre insisted, tugging on his father's shirtsleeve and holding up the squirming animal.

Mr. Ishida laughed and sidestepped the implied request. "Yes, Muffie, I love you too. Dear, do you need any help, or should I go take care of the boys?"

"I'm fine. See to the boys for me, would you?" She sighed and smiled, shaking her head. "Duo and Quatre have been driving me nuts all day...I almost can't wait until the holiday's over and they're back in school." She finally released Duo (who ran to the bathroom, pretending to throw up) and went back to the kitchen to finish Christmas dinner.

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"Good night, Heero," Mr. Ishida said softly, mussing his son's hair.

"Dad, make sure Duo and Quatre don't wake me up tomorrow morning at four o'clock, screaming about presents," Heero muttered back, burrowing down into the quilt. Mr. and Mrs. Ishida switched beds, Mr. Ishida saying goodnight to Duo while Mrs. Ishida leaned down fondly to kiss Heero.

"Daddy, how does Santa fit down the chimney if he's so fat?" Duo asked sleepily, struggling to keep his eyes open, but failing. Good thing he had told Heero to wake him up in a couple of hours; he was certainly not going to be able to wake himself up.

"He manages. Go to sleep, you little rascal."

"Good night, Dad." Mr. and Mrs. Ishida went out to say goodnight to the other three.

"Bun-Bun wants a kiss, too," Quatre said, holding up his stuffed bunny.

"Only girls have toy rabbits named Bun-Bun!" Wufei's voice yelled from the next room.

"Wufei, leave Bun-Bun alone," Mrs. Ishida called. "We'll be there in a minute to tuck you in." Turning back to Quatre, she gave both him and Bun-Bun a kiss, then pulled the covers up and whispered, "I love you, Quatre sweetie."

"I love you too, Mommy."

"Duo left his Legos on the floor," Trowa warned his father as an afterthought. "You might want to--"

"OUCH!"

"Never mind."

"D-- uh, I'm fine, Trowa."

"You were gonna cuss, weren't you!" came Wufei's voice again.

"All right, all right, we're coming!" Mrs. Ishida called. She pulled her husband out and shut the door of Trowa and Quatre's room, which was lit softly by a night-light.

"Wufei honey, be nice tomorrow, okay? It's Christmas."

"Don't call me honey."

"Well, just be nice. _Be nice_."

Wufei sighed. "I'll try."

"That's a good boy. Sweet dreams."

"I don't have sweet dreams!"

"Then have bloody, gory ones, just don't wake me and your mother up," Mr. Ishida said, tickling him a little. Wufei started to giggle, then caught himself.

"Unlike _Duo_ and _Quatre_, I don't crawl into your bed at night, crying over some scary dream." Mr. and Mrs. Ishida shared a look, then tried to hide their chuckles. So, Wufei had found out about Duo's nighttime pilgrimages to his parents' bed.

"Goodnight, Wufei." And so the house was dark and still, waiting quietly for Christmas morning. At least, for about two hours.

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"Duo...Duo...DUO!"

"(mumble) Donwannagoschoo..."

"Duo, _you're_ the one who wanted me to wake you up, so GET UP."

"Mm...Hee...?"

"Yes, it's Heero, now wake up so I can go back to bed."

"Whatime'sit?"

"Around ten. Mom and Dad might still be up, so don't make too much noise."

"Wannagobed..."

"Duo, I didn't go through all this trouble to wake you up, after _you_ told me to, just to have you fall back asleep again."

"'Kay, 'kay, hold on a sec...all right, I'm up."

"_Thank_ you. Goodnight."

"No, you're staying up too."

"What?!"

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"Quatre...Quatre, wake up," Trowa said gently, shaking his brother's shoulder. Quatre clutched Bun-Bun harder and rolled over, mumbling something unintelligible.

"Aw, let's just leave 'im," Duo whined, struggling to stay awake.

"Quatre, it's me, Trowa, wake up."

"Don'wannagetup,Mommy..."

Duo, Heero, and Wufei started snickering.

"Come on, Quatre." They finally got him out of bed, if not fully awake, and proceeded to the living room, which was dark except for the twinkling Christmas tree lights.

Duo started pacing back and forth across the room. Heero sat cross-legged on the floor, Wufei leaned against the wall, Trowa sat on the couch with his legs tucked under him, and Quatre curled up beside Trowa with his eyes closed, clutching Bun-Bun and sucking his thumb.

"What did you wake us all up for, Duo?" Wufei said irritably.

"We," Duo said, pausing to throw out his arms grandly, "are going to stay up and wait for Santa Claus!"

Heero and Wufei stared at him in shock. "You woke us all up for _that_?"

Trowa, upon hearing the announcement, simply shook his head and lay down on the couch. He tucked his hands under his head for a pillow and soon drifted back to sleep.

"Duo, there's no such thing as Santa Claus," Wufei said scornfully.

"Yes there is!" Duo insisted, "And we're gonna wait for him! I even got snacks and stuff."

"Well, if there's snacks..." Wufei said thoughtfully. Heero rolled his eyes and started playing computer games on his laptop.

**10:30 P.M.**

Heero is playing pinball.

Duo is eating Christmas cookies, and candy canes from the tree.

Trowa is sleeping.

Quatre is sleeping.

Wufei is pigging out on treats along with Duo.

**11:00 P.M.**

Heero is bored with pinball; starts playing Frogger.

Duo throws up from eating too many sweets; fast approaching sugar high levels.

Trowa is sleeping.

Quatre is sleeping.

Wufei is laughing at Duo for getting sick.

**12:00 A.M.**

Heero is bored with Frogger; getting sleepy; starts playing solitaire.

Duo is playing Truth or Dare with Wufei, which has included: kissing the cat, drinking Mommy's "disgusting" soy milk, stealing Daddy's glasses without waking up him or Mommy, giving Heero a hug (for which Duo paid dearly), hiding Bun-Bun, telling who his crush is at school, and revealing that he still climbs into Mommy and Daddy's bed at night.

Trowa wakes up briefly to rescue Bun-Bun and deal with being the subject of Wufei's dare.

Quatre is sleeping.

Wufei is playing Truth or Dare with Duo, which has included: running around in the snow wearing only his pajamas, eating pepper, putting an ice cube down the back of Quatre's shirt, putting Muffie down the back of Trowa's shirt, putting Muffie down the back of his own shirt, telling where Duo's baseball is that has been "missing" for three days, and eating some of Muffie's kitty kibble.

**1:00 A.M.**

Heero has finally crashed; the laptop sits neglected.

Duo is bouncing off the walls because his sugar high is out of hand.

Trowa can't get back to sleep; starts petting Muffie in a semi-conscious state.

Quatre wakes up briefly to use the bathroom; falls asleep in the hallway on the way back.

Wufei is methodically taking the Christmas tree apart, then putting it back together.

**2:00 A.M.**

Heero wakes up briefly to get a drink of water and turn off the laptop, then goes back to sleep.

Duo is getting tired; decides to see what's on TV.

Trowa is sleeping.

Quatre has somehow made it back to the living room and is sleeping next to Trowa.

Wufei starts walking restlessly around the house, trying to ward of sleepiness.

**3:00 A.M.**

Heero is sleeping.

Duo is staring glassy-eyed at a cheap Christmas movie while trying not to keel over from exhaustion.

Trowa is sleeping.

Quatre is talking in his sleep.

Wufei has finally fallen asleep sitting up.

**4:00 A.M.**

Heero is completely conked out.

Duo is wondering when Santa will come.

Trowa is dead asleep.

Quatre is happy in La La Land.

Wufei is sleeping curled up next to Duo.

**5:00 A.M.**

The TV is still on, its flickering light playing across the five sleeping boys draped around the room.

**5:30 A.M.**

Mr. and Mrs. Ishida wake up to prepare the living room.

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Mr. and Mrs. Ishida drowsily stumbled along the hall until they got to the living room. When Mrs. Ishida opened the door, she gasped in surprise, then smiled. Mr. Ishida turned off the TV, then started to reach for the closest boy to carry him back to bed. His wife lay a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Honey, shouldn't we just leave them here?" she whispered. "Then they'll realize that there's no point staying up to wait for Santa, because he always comes when they're sleeping."

He smiled. "All right."

Carefully and quietly they worked around their sons: taking out hidden presents all labeled "From Santa" and putting them under the tree, filling the stockings, putting up a few special decorations, drinking the milk, and fighting good-naturedly over the cookies.

"Oops, they're waking up," Mrs. Ishida whispered as Quatre stirred. The two adults hurried back to their room and pretended to be asleep.

Quatre, eyes closed as he groped for the dropped rabbit, finally found it on the floor. Hearing rustling noises, Heero groaned, then sleepily cracked his eyes open. He blinked, looked around the living room in amazement, then saw Duo, fast asleep. Wufei and Trowa woke up within seconds, and all three stared at Duo.

Heero took a deep breath, then yelled, "DUO NO BAKA!"

Jolted awake, Duo's eyes flew open and he stared up at his three brothers. "Wha? 'S Sanna here...?"

"No, he is NOT here. You fell ASLEEP!"

Fully awake now, Duo jumped up and stared around the living room. "That cheater! I bet he was on the roof the whole time, just WAITING for me to close my eyes!"

"Aw, it doesn't matter anyway," Wufei grumbled as he put all his presents in one pile. "There's no such thing as Santa."

While he and Duo yelled at each other about that, Quatre slowly woke up, blinked, then leaped up and ran screaming into his parents' bedroom. Trowa trailed after him to get away from Wufei and Duo. "Mommy, Daddy! Get up, it's Christmas!" Quatre screeched, jumping up and down on the bed.

"Okay, okay, kiddo, we're up," Mr. Ishida mumbled, pulling on his bathrobe. Mrs. Ishida let Quatre tug her excitedly down the hallway, giving Trowa a quick Christmas morning kiss as she did so.

"Daddy, I _missed_ him!" Duo yelled. He scrambled away from Wufei's fists and hid behind his father's leg, where he stuck out his tongue at his brother. "I stayed up almost ALL NIGHT and I _missed_ him! And Wufei says there's no such thing as Santa!"

"Duo honey," Mrs. Ishida said in exasperation, "it's Christmas, can't you boys get along for just one--"

"PRESENTS!"

"Now he notices," Mr. Ishida whispered to her, as Duo dived-bombed his pile of gifts. Pretty soon the living room was strewn with ribbon and wrapping paper. Mr. Ishida sat on the couch and manned the video camera while the boys produced various noises of delight.

"Oooh, oooh, Barbie and Ken! Now I can make my movie where Barbie cheats on Ken and he goes on a psychopath rampage!" Duo yelled.

"Hey, night-vision goggles! I _needed_ these!" Heero exclaimed.

"That dartboard I've been wanting...thanks."

"LOOK, LOOK! BARNEY! THANK YOU, SANTA!"

"I'm sure he'd say you're very welcome, Quatre sweetie."

"Aw, Barney's for sissies!"

"What did _you_ get from Santa, Wufei?" Mrs. Ishida asked quickly, before Quatre could start wailing.

"A ninja sword. And it WASN'T from Santa!"

"Yes it was!" Duo yelled.

"No it wasn't!"

After the rest of the presents had been opened, Duo and Wufei had been separated, and Barbie had been rescued from the jaws of a vicious wild mountain lion (Muffie), Mrs. Ishida finally got everyone to sit down to Christmas breakfast.

She laughed silently at how Duo was jumping around in a Power Rangers shirt, unaware of the ribbon trailing from his ankle. Heero had a piece of taped wrapping paper clinging to the back of his head; Quatre was trying to carry his enormous armful of presents everywhere he went; Trowa unknowingly had Quatre's Barney wrapping paper taped to his pajama-top by a mischievous Duo; and Wufei was dragging the sword around everywhere, even though he kept insisting that he could have made a better one by hand.

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Late that night, after a full day of playing with their Christmas presents, Duo crept into Wufei's room.

"Wufei?"

"(mumble)..."

"Here's your Christmas present."

"(mumble)..."

Duo grinned. He had timed it perfectly so that everyone would be nearly asleep. "Good night." Having made the last stop, he went back to his room and climbed under the covers before falling asleep immediately.

By each bed in the house now rested an untidily-wrapped gift, crafted by hand in the stolen hours of past nights. However, it was only on Mr. and Mrs. Ishida's present did a hand-drawn card read:

_Heres youre krismas present. I love you mommy and daddy_

_Duo ishida._

_P.S. dont tell the others I dont want them to now it was me that gave them the presense._

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In a small, snow-covered house in the Northern latitudes, Mr. Claus checked over his list one more time, brow wrinkled, sure that he had forgotten something.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed suddenly.

His wife came out of the kitchen, snacking on the leftover Christmas cookies she had managed to hide from the elves. "What is it? Did you forget someone _again_?"

"Yeah, this year it was the Ishidas."

"Well, don't worry too much about it. There's always next year."

"Yes. It may be just as well...I was seriously considering putting coal in those boys' stockings this time."

"Oh honey, every year you threaten to do that to someone, and you never do."

"Ah, you're right. They're good kids, despite my doubts... Anyway, are there any more cookies left?"

"Nick! You've just been to millions of houses with cookies; you'll get fat!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I know you're supposed to be fat, but there has to be a limit!"

"Oh, I guess you're right. Well, do you want to watch a movie before bed?"

"Well, all right. Anything in particular?"

"Of course!" He grinned.

She smiled back. "Endless Waltz it is, then."


End file.
